This invention relates to an improved motor vehicle safety barrier assembly which is arranged to be selectively fitted in one or more positions within a vehicle to inhibit the forward movement of an unrestrained load carried behind a driver or passenger in the vehicle, and in particular to improved fixing means by which the safety screen is secured in either of two positions within the vehicle.
A two position motor vehicle safety screen is described and illustrated in the applicant's Australian patent specification 583738 entitled "Vehicle Safety Screen Fixing Means". The fixing system described therein comprises several pairs of securing straps each of which is pivotally secured at its forward end to an attachment point on the safety screen frame, with its rear or trailing end being secured by a fastener to an anchorage point fixed in the vehicle roof or vehicle floor. The securing straps are permanently connected to the screen frame. There are two pairs of bottom straps for anchoring the bottom corners of the screen to the vehicle floor, one of those pairs comprising short-length straps for securing the screen when in its rear position. The other pair comprises relatively long straps which, when the screen is in its rear position, are folded inwardly to lie alongside the base of the screen frame. In order to mount the screen in the forward position, the relatively long straps are swung outwardly to respective positions whereat their rear ends are secured by fasteners to anchorage points fixed in the vehicle floor panel adjacent the wheel arches.
Although the above described screen assembly has proven generally satisfactory in use, it has been found that by having two-sets of bottom straps permanently connected to the screen frame, it is awkward for a person to shift the screen from one position to the other. In particular the straps tend to catch on objects or surfaces within the vehicle when the screen is bodily moved either rearwards to its rear position or from its rear position to its forward position. Still further when in the rear position, the relatively long straps are stored behind the screen at the base thereof and hence interfere with the storage space at the rear of the vehicle.